SUPERELVIS
RESISTANCE EMOTIONAL MUSIC
The Uncomplete Unremastered Tapes

01. LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS [a] 2:08
02. HONKY TONK WOMEN [a] [c] 3:48
03. AIN’T NO CURE FOR LOVE [a] [c] 3:29
04. I WANT YOU [a] [c] 4:05
05. GOLPEADO [a] [c] 1:53
06. ROMEO HAD JULIETTE [a] 3:46
07. FEAR IS A MAN’S BEST FRIEND [a] [c] 2:59
08. FIVE YEARS [a] [c] 4:00
09. CHELSEA HOTEL [a] 3:39
10. I WANT YOU [a] 3:55
11. GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY/RECUERDOS [a] 3:49
12. HEROES/FASCISTAS [b] [c] 3:39
13. SONG FOR A DANCER [b] 5:34
14. PARAISO [d] 5:00
15. CALIFORNIA GIRLS [d] 3:01
16. CLOSE WATCH [d] 5:03
17. WHEN YOU DANCE I CAN REALLY LOVE [d] 3:45
18. CALIFORNIA GIRLS [d] 3:15
19. LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS [d] 2:14
20. PARAISO [d] 5:27

[a] Previously appeared on the original RESISTANCE EMOTIONAL MUSIC cassette.
[b] Previously appeared on the RESISTANCE EMOTIONAL MUSIC pre-release
[c] Previously appeared on the EN CASO DE DUDA, ROCK’N’ROLL LP
[d] Previously unreleased


Anki Toner: vocals, harmonica
Meteo Giráldez: guitar, bass, electric piano
Raimon Aymerich: electric piano, upright piano, drums, percussion, guitar

Recorded at Pere Boada’s studio in 1990. No overdubs. Almost no effects.

“Copyright laws were unknown and unapplicable were so much was held as common property, a vast compendium of material that each singer felt free to draw upon and call his own.” (Neil Slaven, liner notes to “Sonny Boy Williamson, The Chess Years”)

Liner notes to the 2009 16RPM edition: Anki Toner


LINER NOTES:

Yeah, there is much more in the vault, but here is all that has surfaced and a little more. It should be enough for the moment…

Superelvis (Anki Toner, Meteo Giráldez and Raimon Aymerich, in case someone cares) booked Pere Boada’s studio for some sessions in August and some more in October 1990. It was the first time they recorded in a professional studio and they decided to make the smallest possible use of it. Just a plain recording and a rough mix. No overdubs, no effects… well, that was the original idea. Nevertheless, Pere Boada insisted in using a little reverb here & there, and used his recording experience to convince the band.

There was a first cassette pre-release with seven tracks taken from the August sessions and later a cassette with eleven tracks, only five of which were on the first tape. This cassette was titled RESISTANCE EMOTIONAL MUSIC and can be considered Superelvis fourth (and last) release for their own DOPPLER EFFECT MUSIC cassette label (DEM SK 004).

Seven of these tracks appeared the following year in EN CASO DE DUDA, ROCK’N’ROLL, the LP that the Barcelona City Council released when the band won the prestigious Biennal’91 de Joves Creadors award. Six of these tracks were on the Resistance Emotional Music cassette, the seventh came from the pre-release. The LP was completed with two tracks from the 1989 cassette

THE WALKMAN TAPES VOL.2 (DEM SK 003) and four freshly recorded takes. By the way, these four new tracks were rather boring In addition to the 11 tracks that were on the DEM SK 004 and the two extra tracks that were on the pre-release but weren’t in the subsequent release (though one of them made it to the LP… no, it’s simple) we are offering here seven more tracks.

Two of them are two very different takes of PARAISO (Superelvis’ signature theme), much better than the version which appeared on the LP. With these, the total of different released takes of the song adds up to seven (and I wish I had a tape of the 45-minute version we did at the BAM festival in 1997).

Another interesting track is CLOSE WATCH, never released before because Anki Toner insisted that his vocals were wrong (have they ever been right? and what for?). We also find two different CALIFORNIA GIRLS (as there were two different I WANT YOU in the DEM SK 004 tape), a second LUCY IN THE SKY and a WHEN YOU DANCE I CAN REALLY LOVE. Yeah, take the LUCY’s, the SONG FOR A DANCER, add a little of WHEN YOU DANCE… and you almost have side A of the 1991 album KISS ME WHEN YOU DANCE. Of course.

So, what is left? Well, Superelvis recorded 8 sessions at Pere Boada’s studio, though most takes were deleted inmediately.

What remained were four 8-track reels, of about 45 minutes each. These tapes were listened to again by the three original members of the band in the summer of 1999 (that is when the seven extra tracks were mixed down). The rest of the tapes is still undiscovered. Not really much considering that the original Walkman Tapes may contain 50 or 60 hours of music, and only 90 minutes of it have been released!

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